USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 35
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SENECA COUNTY.
The Senecas of Sandusky-so called-owned and occupied forty thousand acres of choice land on the east side of Sandusky river, being mostly in this and partly in Sandusky county. Thirty thousand acres of this land was granted to them on the 29th of September, 1817, at the treaty held at the foot of Maumee Rapids, Hon. Lewis Cass and Hon. Duncan M'Arthur being the commissioners of the United States. The remaining 10,000 acres, lying south of the other, was granted by the treaty at St. Mary's, concluded by the same commissioners on the 17th of September, in the following year. By the treaty concluded at Washington city, February 28, 1831, James B. Gardiner being the commissioner of the general gov- ernment, these Indians ceded their lands to the United States, and agreed to re- move southwest of Missouri, on the Neosho river.
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INDIAN EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT.
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At this time their principal chiefs were Coonstick, Small Cloud Spicer, Seneca Steel, Hard Hickory, Tall Chief and Good Hunter, the last two of whom were their principal orators. The old chief Good Hunter told Mr. Henry C. Brish, their sub-agent, that this band, which numbered about four hundred souls, were in fact the remnant of Logan's tribe, (see Pickaway county), and says Mr. Brish in a communication to ns : " I cannot to this day surmise why they were called Sene- eas. I never found a Seneca among them. They were Cayugas-who were Mingoes-among whom were a few Oneidas, Mohawks, Onondagoes, Tuscarawas and Wyandots." From Mr. Brish, we have received an interesting narrative of the execution for witchcraft of one of these Indians, named Seneca John, who was one of the best men of his tribe.
About the year 1825, Coonstick, Steel and . Cracked Hoof left the reservation for the double purpose of a three years hunting and trapping excursion, and to seek a location for a new home for the tribe in the far West.
At the time of their starting, Comstock, the brother of the first two. was the principal chief of the tribe. On their return in 1828, richly laden with furs and horses, they found Seneca John, their fourth brother, chief, in place of Comstock, who had died during their absence.
Comstock was the favorite brother of the two, and they at once charged Seneca John with producing his death by witchcraft. John denied the charge in a strain of elo- quence rarely equalled. Said he, "I loved my brother Comstock more than I love the green earth I stand upon. I would give my- self, limb by limb, piecemcal by peacemeal- I wonld shed my blood, drop by drop, to re- store him to life." But all his protestations of innocence and affection for his brother Comstock were of no avail. His two other brothers pronounced him guilty and declared their determination to be his executioners.
John replied that he was willing to die and only wished to live until the next morning, "to see the sun rise once more." This request, being granted. John told them that he should sleep that night on Hard Hick- ory's porch, which fronted the cast, where they would find him at sunrise. He chose that place because he did not wish to be killed in the presence of his wife, and desired that the chief. Hard Hickory, should witness that he died like a brave man.
Coonstick and Steel retired for the night to an old cabin near by. In the morning, in company with Shane, another Indian. they preceeded to the house of Hard Hickory, who was my informant of what there hap- pened.
He said, a little after sunrise he heard their footsteps upon the porch, and opened the door just enough to peep out. He saw John asleep upon his blanket, while they stood around him. At length one of them awoke him. He arose upon his feet and took off a large handkerchief which was around his head, letting his unusually long hair fall upon his shoulders. This' being done, he looked around upon the landscape and at the rising sun, to take a farewell look of a scene that he was never again to behold and then told them he was ready to die.
Shane and Coonstiek each took him by the arm, and Steel walked behind. In this way- they led him abont ten steps from the porch, when Steel struck him with a tomahawk on the back of his head, and he fell to the ground, bleeding freely. Supposing this blow sufficient to kill him, they dragged him under a peach tree near by. In a short time, however, he revived ; the blow having been broken by his great mass of hair. Knowing that it was Steel who struck the blow, John, as he lay, turned his head towards Coonstick and said, " Now brother, do you take your re- venge." This so operated upon the feelings of Coonstick, that he interposed to save him; but it enraged Steel to such a degree, that he drew his knife and cut John's throat from ear to car, and the next day he was buried
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with the usual Indian ceremonies, not more than twenty feet from where he fell. Steel was arrested and tried for the murder in San- dusky county, and acquitted.
The grave of Seneca John was surrounded
by a small pleket enclosure. Three years after, when I was preparing to move them to the far West, I saw Coonstiek and Steel re- move the picket-fence and level the ground, so that no vestige of the grave remained.
SACRIFICING DOGS TO THE GREAT SPIRIT.
A writer in the Sidney Aurora, gave a narrative of some of the religious rites of this tribe, just prior to their departure for their new homes. We extraet his de- scription of their sacrificing two dogs to the Great Spirit. This writer was prob- ably Mr. Brish.
We rose early and proceeded directly to the council house, and though we sup- posed we were carly, the Indians were already in advance of us.
The first objeet which arrested our attention, was a pair of the canine" species, one of each gender suspended on a cross! one on either side thereof. These ani- mals had been recently strangled-not a bone was broken, nor could a distorted hair be seen ! They were of beautiful cream color, except a few dark spots on one, naturally, which same spots were put on the other, artificially, by the devotees. The Indians are very partial in the selection of dogs entirely white for this occa- sion ; and for such they will give almost any price. Now for part of the deco- rations to which I have already alluded ; a description of one will suffice for both.
First-A scarlet ribbon was tastefully tied just above the nose; and near the eyes another ; next round the neck was a white ribbon, to which was attached some bulbous, concealed in another white ribbon ; this was placed directly under the right ear, and I suppose it was intended as an amulet or charm. . Then ribbons were bound round the forelegs, at the knees and near the feet-these were red and white alternately. Round the body was a profuse decoration-then the hind legs were decorated as the fore ones. Thus were the victims prepared and thus or- namented for burnt offering.
While minutely making this examination, I was almost unconscious of the collection of a large number of Indians who were there assembled to offer their sacrifices.
Adjacent to the cross was a large fire built on a few logs; and though the snow was several inches deep, they had prepared a suf- fieient quantity of combustible material, re- moved the snow from the logs and placed thereon their fire. I have often regretted that I did not see them light this pile. My own opinion is, they did not use the fire from their council-house ; because I think they would have considered that as common, and as this was intended to be a holy service, they, no doubt, for this purpose struck fire from a flint, this being deemed sacred.
It was a clear, beautiful morning, and just as the first rays of the sun were seen in the tops of the towering forest and its reflections from the snowy surface. the Indians simulta- neously formed a semicirele enelosing the cross, each flank resting on the aforesaid pile of logs.
Good Hunter, who officiated as High Priest, now appeared, and approached the cross ; arrayed in his pontifical robes, he looked quite respectable.
The Indians being all assembled-I say Indians, for there was not a squaw present during all this ceremony-at a private signal given by the High Priest, two young chiefs sprang upon the eross and each taking off one of the victims, brought it down and pre- sented it on his arms to the High Priest, who receiving it with great reverence, in like man- ner advanced to the fire, and with a very grave and solemn air, laid it thereon-and this he did with the other-but to which, whether male or female. he gave the prefer- ence I did not learn. This done, he retired to the cross.
In a devout manner he now commenced an oration. The tone of his voice was andible and somewhat chanting. At every pause in his discourse, he took from a white cloth he held in his left hand, a portion of dried, odoriferons herbs, which he threw on the fire ; this was intended as incense. In the mean-> while his auditory, their eyes on the ground; with grave aspect and solemn silence, stood motionless, listening attentively to every word he uttered.
Thus he proceeded until the victims were entirely consumed and the incense exhausted, when he concluded his service ; the oblation now made and the wrath of the Great Spirit, as they believed, appeased, they again assem- bled in the council-house. for the purpose of performing a part in their festival, different from any I yet had witnessed. Each Indian as he entered, seated himself on the floor, thus forming a large cirele ; when one of the old chiefs rose and with that native dignity which some Indians possess in a great degree, recounted his exploits as a warrior ; told in how many fights he had been the victor ; the number of scalps he had taken from his ene- mies ; and what, at the head of his braves, he yet intended to do at the "Rocky Moun-
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tains ; " accompanying his narration with energy, warmth and strong gestieulation ; when he ended, he received the unanimous applause of the assembled tribe.
This meed of praise was awarded to the chief by " three times three " artieulations, which were properly neither nasal, oral nor guttural, but rather abdominal. Thus many others in the eirele, old and young, rose in or- der, and pro forma, delivered themselves of a speech. Among those was Good Hunter ; but he
" Had laid his robes away His mitre and his vest."
His remarks were not filled with such bom- bast as some others ; but brief, modest and appropriate ; in fine, they were sueli as be- came a priest of one of the lost ten trtbes of Israel.
After all had spoken who wished to speak, the floor was eleared and the danee renewed, in which Indian and squaw united, with their wonted hilarity and zeal.
Just as this danee ended, an Indian boy ran to me and with fear strongly depieted in his countenance, eaught me by the arm and drew me to the door, pointing with his other hand towards something he wished me to observe.
I looked in that direction, and saw the ap- pearanee of an Indian running at full speed to the eouneil-house ; in an instant he was in the house and literally in the fire, which he took in his hands and threw fire, eoals and hot ashes in various directions through the
house and apparently all over himself. At his entrance, the young Indians much alarmed, had all fled to the further end of the house, where they remained crowded, in great dread of this personification of the Evil Spirit. After diverting himself with the fire a few moments, at the expense of the young ones, to their no small joy he disappeared. This was an Indian disguised with a hideous false face, having horns on his head, and his hands and feet protected from the effects of the fire. And though not a professed "Fire King," he certainly performed his part to admiration.
During the continuanee of this festival, the hospitality of the Seneeas was unbounded. In the council-house and at the residenee of Tall Chief, were a number of large fat bueks and hogs hanging up and neatly dressed. Bread also, of both eorn and wheat, in great abundanee.
Large kettles of soup ready prepared, in which maple sugar, profusely added, made a prominent ingredient, thus forming a very agreeable saccharine eoalescenee. All were invited and made welcome ; indeed, a refusal to partake of their bounty, was deemed dis- respectful, if not unfriendly.
I left them in the afternoon enjoying them- selves to the fullest extent, and so far as I eould pereeive, their pleasure was without alloy. They were eating and drinking, but on this oeeasion, no ardent spirits were per- mitted-daneing and rejoieing-caring and probably thinking not of to-morrow,
Tiffin in 1846 .- Tiffin, the county seat, is a compactly built village, on a level site, on the line of the railroad connecting Cincinnati with Sandusky City, and on the east bank of Sandusky river. It is 86 miles north of Columbus and 34 from Sandusky City. It was laid out about the year 1821, by Josiah Hedges, and named from the Hon. Edward Tiffin, of Ross, president of the convention which formed the constitution of Ohio, and the first governor of the State of Ohio in 1803. The town is gradually increasing with the growth of the county. The view was taken in the principal street, and shows on the left the court house and in the distance the spire of a Catholic church .. It contains 2 Lutheran, 2 Catholic, 1 Episcopal, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Reformed Methodist and 1 German Re- formed church, 5 grocery and 9 dry goods stores, 1 foundry, 2 newspaper print- ing offices and had in 1840, 728 inhabitants : it now contains with the suburbs, about 1200. Opposite Tiffin, on the west bank of the Sandusky, is the small vil- lage of Fort Ball, so named from a fort erected there in the war of 1812, so called from Lieut. Col. James V. Ball, the commander of a squadron of cavalry under Harrison, while at Fort Seneca in this county. The fort was a small stockade with a ditch, occupying perhaps'one-third of an acre. It stood on the bank of the river, about fifty rods south of the present bridge, and was used principally as a military depot. Vestiges of this work yet remain. On the old Indian reserva- tion, in a limestone soil, are two white sulphur springs, respectively ten and twelve miles from Tiffin and about two apart. The water is clear and petrifies all ob- jects with which it comes in contact. The water furnishes power sufficient for two large merchant mills, flows in great quantities and nearly alike in all seasons. In the northeastern corner of the commy, in the township of Thompson, is a subterra- nean stream, about eighty feet under ground. The water is pure and cold, runs uniformly and in a northern direction. It is entered by a hole in the top, into which the curious can descend on foot, by the aid of a light .- Old Edition.
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SENECA COUNTY.
TIFFIN, county-seat of Seneca, is eighty miles northwest of Columbus, forty- two miles southeast from Toledo ; is on on the T. B. & W., B. & O., and N. W. Railroads. It is the seat of Heidelberg College and other educational institutions, is in the midst of a very productive agricultural region and has extensive manu- facturing interests. County officers, 1888 : Auditor, James A. Norton ; Clerk, Lewis Ulrich ; Commissioners, Henry F. Hedden, Truman H. Bagby, Nicholas Burtscher ; Coroner, Edward Lepper ; Infirmary Directors, Daniel Metzger, John Rinebolt, William King; Probate Judge, John Royer; Prosecuting Attorney, William H. Dore; Recorder, George F. Wentz ; Sheriff, George Homan ; Sur- . veyor, George McGormley ; Treasurer, Benjamin F. Myers. City officers, 1888 : Mayor, Dr. J. F. E. Fanning ; Marshal, John Hummer ; Street Commissioner, Sendder Chamberlin ; Solicitor, H. C. Keppel ; Clerk, William Dore; Chief of Fire Department, John Roller ; Treasurer, B. F. Myers. Newspapers : Seneca Advertiser, Democratie, Myers Bros., editors and publishers ; Tribune and Herald, Republican, Locke & Bro., editors and publishers ; Die Presse, German, George Homan, editor and publisher ; News, Democratic, D. J. Stalter, editor and pub- lisher ; Heidelberg Journal, literary, E. R. Good & Bro, editors and publishers ; Village Gardener and Poultry Breeder, Philo J. Keller, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Presbyterian, 2 Catholic, 1 Episcopal, 3 Evangelical, 1 Methodist Protestant, 3 Reformed, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Lutheran, 1 Baptist. Banks : Commercial, Warren P. Noble, president, Samuel B. Sneath, cashier ; Tiffin National, John D. Loomis, president, J. N. Chamberlin, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees .- Tiffin Union Churn Co., churns, washboards, etc., 58 hands ; Tiffin Agricultural Works, agricultural implements, 110; E. S. Rockwell & Co., woolen goods, 90; Schuman & Co., lager beer, 11; Enterprise Manufacturing Co., sash, doors, etc., 19; Tiffin Manufacturing Co., sash, doors, etc., 18 ; Glick & McCormick, wagon supplies, etc., 25 ; R. H. Whitlock, boxes, 18 ; Tiffin Glass Co., table ware, 90; National Machinery Co., bolt and nut ma- chinery, 103; Loomis & Nyman, general machine work, 30; II. Hubach, lager beer, 7; Ohio Stove Co., stoves, 42 .- State Report, 1888.
Population, 1880, 7,889. School census, 1888, 2,836 ; J. W. Knott, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $637,227. Valne of annual product, $966,310 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.
Census, 1890, 10,801.
Tiffin is a substantial, well-built city, and occupies both sides of the Sandusky river, including the site of the old Fort Ball. It is in a very rich country and has a large local trade. It is well named from Ohio's first governor-a gentle- man of diversified attainments.
TRAVELLING NOTES.
When any of us think of a place it is, I believe, the universal law to have spring into our mind its prominent personalities, and according to the characters that mentally rise, is that place pleasant or disagreeable. To multitudes of Ohio people, when they think of the city of Tiffin, comes into their minds Ohio's great orator for near two generations-Gen. WILLIAM H. GIBSON, born in Ohio in 1822, who, as he says, was " the first male infant carried into Seneca county." So well is he known that only as a matter of record is it necessary to meution him. I presume there is not a county in Ohio in which his voice has not been uplifted in patriotie utterance, and in many counties many times. I know not one living who has appeared so much in our State on public occasions as the orator of the day, especially at out-of-door meetings of farmers and at pioneer celebrations. And he gives so much gratification that even his own townsmen throng any public place when it is advertised he is to appear. So, in his case, the old saying about prophets not being honored at home, fails when he is to appear in Tiffin.
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ILURIN
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Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.
CENTRAL VIEW IN TIFFIN.
B. Pennington, Photo., 1886.
CENTRAL VIEW IN TIFFIN.
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SENECA COUNTY.
GEN. WM. HI. GIBSON.
Gen. GIBSON is of the blonde order, with oval face, tall and graceful person ; but his great peculiarity is the clearness and phenon- enal powers of voice that enable him to send every word distinct to the ears of acres of people gathered around in the open fields. Seldom has been heard a voice like it since the days of Whitefield. Then he is such an entertaining, delight-giving speaker, that he will hold a miscellaneous audience of men, women and children for hours together.
Capt. Henry Cromwell, an old citizen here in Tiffin, said to me, "I have been hearing Gibson for more than forty years, and I am amazed every time I hear him. In the Scott campaign of 1852 he introduced Gen. Scott to our people from the steps of the Shawhan House, A reporter of the New York Herald present said it was the best speech he had ever heard. In 1842, when a mere boy, I was present when he delivered the Indepen- dence Day oration at Mehnore, then a spot well out in the woods. An old Revolution- ary soldier sat by his side with long, flowing white hair, done up in a queue. As he closed he made an eloquent apostrophe to the flag waving over them, and then turning round put both hands on the old man's head, say- ing, 'Here is a man who fought for that flag.' Half of the audience were in tears. In the course of his life he has participated in twelve presidential campaigns as a campaign speaker, and seems good for more. In the Lincoln campaign Harriet Beecher Stowe happened to hear him, and wrote, 'I have heard many of the renowned orators of Eu- rope and our own country, but I have never sat two and a half hours under such wonderful eloquence as that of Gen. William H. Gibson, of Ohio.' "'
Gen. Gibson as a youth began work on n
farm, then learned the carpenter's trade, and finally was educated to the law ; was elected to the office of state treasurer in the year 1856, on the ticket with Salmon P. Chase as governor ; served as colonel of the Forty- ninth Ohio, and was breveted brigadier-gen- eral on his retirement. Of late, having been duly qualified, he occasionally serves in the pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
If, when we think of Tiffin, the graceful form and somewhat sad face of the eloquent Gibson rises to our mind ; so, when we think of Fostoria, the genial face and compact figure of another lights the scene. ITis is a phenomenal individuality-one that has ilhis- trated that a man can be the governor of this great State and at the same moment " Char- lie " to everybody in it. Born there when all around was woods ; growing up with the people, ever manifesting a cheerful, generous, helping spirit ; his life illustrates the frater- nal idea; so the humblest individuals of his home community rejoice that he is one of them. The Hon. Daniel Ryan, in his " His- tory of Ohio," thus outlines his career :
"The parents of CHARLES FOSTER were from Massachusetts. They moved West and settled in Seneca county, where he was born April 12, 1828. He received a common- school education and engaged in business pur- suits for the early part of his life. In 1870 he was elected to Congress and served for eight years, although his district was polit- ically very strong against him. While in Congress he was noted for the straightforward and businesslike view that he took of all measures. He was one of the Republican leaders of that body. The Republican party in 1879 nominated him for governor, and he was elected. Two years after he was re- elected. He administered state affairs with Success. He took advanced ground on taxing the liquor trafhe, and his party-in fact, the entire people of Ohio -- have indorsed his views. Hle is now in private life, devoting his attention to business affairs at Fostoria."
Other noted persons come up with the thought of Seneca county. ANSON BURLIN- GAME in 1823 came with his father's family from the East-a child of three years. His father opened up a farm near Melmore, where he remained ten years. The family then re- moved to Michigan, but Anson soon returned and for a while tanght school in Eden town- ship. Eventually he settled in Massachusetts, after a course of law at Harvard.
In 1856, while serving as a member of Con- gress from the Boston (Mass.) district, he spoke in such terms of indignation of the brutal assault of Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, upon the Massachusetts Senator, Charles Sumner, that Brooks challenged him. He promptly accepted, named rifles as the weapons, and Navy Island, just above Niag- ara Falls. as the place of meeting. Brooks demurred as to the place for the duel, alleg- ing that to get there he ahould be obliged to go through an enemy's country. Burlingame was an adept with the rifle, learned in his youthful days by practice upon the wild
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beasts of Seneca county, and the public judg- ment was that Brooks, after his challenge, had learned that fact, and feared if the meet- ing took place, no matter where it might be, his fate would be that of some of those Seneca county bears. Burlingame's conduct was largely approved of by his party friends at the North, who on his return to Boston received him with distinguished honors, The crowning act of his life was when, in 1858,
as United States minister to China, he made that great treaty since known as the " Bur- lingame Treaty." This valuable and heroic man closed his half century of life while on a mission to St. Petersburg in 1870.
Another mentionable fact connected with the personalities of this county, is that about a quarter of a century since, when that noted French divine, PERE HYACINTHE, left the bosom of mother church and advocated mat- rimony for priests, he proceeded to practice as he had preached and took for his bride a Seneca county lady.
CONSUL WILLSHIRE BUTTERFIELD, the historian, born in New York, began his career of authorship in this county, wherein for
many years he was a teacher, at one time head of its Public Schools. His first work was a small history of Seneca county. Of late removed to Madison, Wisconsin, he has for his careful study and work access to the superb collection of historical works in the Wisconsin State Library, an institution which confers lasting hovor upon that young State.
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